Need advice for graphics and soundcards build 1992, 1995, 1996 year machines \ VOGONS

Need advice for graphics and soundcards build 1992, 1995, 1996 year machines

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First post, by envagyok

Posted on 2023-05-21, 12:57

envagyok Offline

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Hi
I plan to build/rebuild machines year 1992,1995,1996
I need advice for build or change components to make a best choice for speed and compatibility.
My plans:
1992 DOS machine for 1992 or older Games:
Intel DX2-66 Cpu
ASUS VLB S3 MB
CT1600 SB Pro
Midi output card + Roland SC-55 (I don't have MT-32 yet)
VLB Cache IDE Controller
VLB Graphic card??? I have much like paradise, et4000, s3 924, and more others.

1995 Mainly for latest Dos Games 1992-1995
Intel Pentium 133 and Socket 5 MB???
S3 968 PCI Graphic card or i have many others like ark, s3, matrox, ati, nvidia nv1 ???
Soundblaster 16 or AWE32 or Yamaha SW20PC, MiroSound PCM12???
+ Gravis Ultrasound Classic, or Max, or P'n'P or ACE???
Rolad SC-55 or Yamaha MU-50???
Yamaha SW60XG or DB50XG???

For 1996 i have already a Windows95 3dfx gaming ser, but for graphic card I'm not sure:
Pentium MMX233 (I know in 1996 200 was the best)
S7 MB
Matrox Milennium???
3Dfx Voodoo
Creative AWE64 Gold with memory expansion.

Thanks for every helping advice

Reply 1 of 3, by dionb

Posted on 2023-05-21, 15:30

dionb Offline

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1992 makes sense, 1996 seems too close to 1995 to me. For a good Win95 experience you want something faster.

As for 1995, I'd suggest 3 things for sound:
- bug-free UART MIDI
- SB16 support in some form or other
- GUS in whatever form you can get for a good price.

Ideally I'd also want digital audio without DMA clicks.

I have AWE64 Gold (SB16), Aztech 2320 card (bug-free UART MIDI, also WSS), and a GUS classic (for games basically all the Ultrasound cards are the same). I did however upgrade from P100 to P3-500 because some late DOS was too slow for me.

Last edited by dionb on 2023-05-21, 21:18. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 3, by envagyok

Posted on 2023-05-21, 15:50

envagyok Offline

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Joined: 2019-02-15, 06:18

I Already have a '98 machine with P2 450 and v2 sli with Nvidia TnT, and Diamond Vortex2 audio, and a '99 with P3-700 Nvidia Geforce 256/ SB Live, a 2000 with P4 s423 and Geforce 2 Ultra

Reply 3 of 3, by chinny22

Posted on 2023-05-22, 10:01

chinny22 Offline

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1992 486
SB Pro is good choice
VLB is sexy, compatibility is more important then speed and that'll depend on what games you play. after that I'd just pick whichever card you prefer due to looks, brand or whatever.

1995 Pentium
AWE is just a SB16 with the EMU chip so can't see any reason for you to use your SB16
MiroSound I don't know that much about, but is SB Pro compatible and I agree with dionb for late dos 16 bit sound is desirable.
I'd go with the Yamaha as you already have a AWE in the '96 build and WSS will give you 16 bit sound

Video I'd go with something like S3 Virge, Matrox Mystique, NV1. Something that lets you mess round with the early 3d accelerated games from this list
3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

1996
Basically its the same as '95 but with glide and lets you have a different soundcard (the AWE) and yet another card from the 3d accelerated list above.

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